My Black Thumb

Today, as I was rinsing the lunch dishes, I glanced at my only living plant in the entire house, and realized that it has been a while since I watered it last. I gave it a drink and couldn't help thinking about the plant, the friend who gave it to me, and the circumstances surrounding the gift.

First of all, I have to say that I don't have a green thumb. Yup, it's pretty black. I'm not sure how it happened. I helped plant my parents' garden, and the things I planted always grew so well. But, out on my own, I can't get things to grow. I've done containers with Miracle Gro like soil. I've planted tulip bulbs--which come up in the spring but are super tiny for some reason. I've grown tomatoes, but again, super tiny. I've even had a few houseplants over the years. Yup, you guessed it, they always die. I haven't given up hope on growing things--I'm very persistent and determined--but so far, my thumb is still quite black.

Back to my houseplant's origin. It had been a month or two since my first miscarriage, and my friend, who had also experienced a miscarriage, came over one day with this tiny little fern thing (yeah, I don't even know what kind of plant it is). She said something about it being helpful to grow something. I didn't think too much about my black thumb then, but in the following months, when I lost another baby, and my pathetic garden failed, and my fall bulbs came up pathetically small, I started getting really, really discouraged. I often lamented to Brian, "I can't grow ANYTHING! Not a garden, not flowers, not a baby!" I cried and cried about it. My consolation was our apple tree--which I didn't plant--that was growing tons of beautiful Macintosh apples, my absolute favorite. And then one day, I saw my nephews and son chucking those apples across the lawn--they were ALL ruined. I sobbed and sobbed in the shower that day.

These memories came flooding back to me today when I looked at this plant:

You see, by some miracle or mercy from the Lord, this plant hasn't died. It has been two years since my friend brought it to me, and it is still going strong, despite the many times I forget to water it, or the many times when I over-water it. And I couldn't help thinking today that the Lord knew I just needed this little plant to grow for me. 

So there it is, my random thought for the day. The Lord loves us SO much more than we can even comprehend. He manifests it in many different ways. I imagine there are too many of these to count, and often many that we don't notice or even recognize. But they are there, quietly letting us know that Someone is aware of us and our struggles, and He will never leave us to deal with them alone. 

Halloween

We had almost a whole week of Halloween fun, starting with our ward Chili Cook-off and Trunk or Treat on October 25. One of my former sunbeams was so excited when I walked in dressed as the same thing she was: Little Bo Peep. We had to get a picture. 

 On October 26, we hosted our first Halloween party for our friends in the neighborhood. We invited TONS of people, but thankfully, only about five couples made it--not too big and not too small. We had a ton of fun. We played Halloween Pictionary, wrapped Mummies:

And played Time's Up with Halloween Titles. 

We love our awesome friends, and I'm already thinking of ideas for next year. 

On October 30, we finally carved our pumpkins--just in time. 

Michael wasn't afraid of the guts this year. 

Michael drew the faces for his two pumpkins. I love his little drawings! 

Ethan didn't want to carve a pumpkin, but he did dress up for the occasion. 

It was cold and dark by the time we finished, but we HAD to light them. 

And we got a visit from a ghost. 

On October 31, we had quite the busy day. We hosted the preschool Halloween party at our house. Then, we had trick-or-treating and a chili cook off at Brian's work. We won runner-up for best family themed costume. Go us!

After the party, we came home, took some pictures, and took the kiddos out trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. 

Little Bo Peep and my little sheep--I made these two costumes. 

Best Friends: Buzz and Woody--I did not make these two, and that was pretty awesome. 

Our Toy Story Family. Don't you think we should have won best family costume?

A few notes on trick-or-treating. 

1. Michael decided he wanted to ride his bike to go trick-or-treating. That meant we had to beg him to get off and go to the door. That also meant, we didn't make it to very many houses, which was good in that he didn't get much candy, but sad in that we didn't get to see many of our neighbors. 

2. We decided to do fruit snacks this year. Last year, we got awesome candy, and we left it on a bowl on the porch. I'm sure that it was all gone when the first group of unaccompanied teens/kids hit our porch. Because of that and because we are trying to cut back on sugar, we opted for the fruit snacks. While we were out taking pictures, a group with a teenage boy arrived. Upon seeing that we had fruit snacks, he said something like, "What?! How lame!" I couldn't help saying, "Hey, I'm standing right here!" He laughed and said, "Uh, I'm sure they're really good." And in my head, I laughed because even though he complained at the lame "candy", he still took it. After making our rounds, there were still some left in the cauldron. That's either thanks to the fact that fruit snacks are lame or because we actually posted a "please only take one" sign. Not sure.  We still ended up giving away every single fruit snack in the house, and we even had to turn some people away with nothing. Not too many people though. 

And for the record, Ethan thought we were lame for only getting fruit snacks also, but the 1-5 year-olds thought we were awesome! 

The Stats

 For the first time, the stars aligned, and Michael and Rachel had their well child check-ups on the same day (Oct. 25). It will probably never happen again.

 Here are their stats:

Michael, 4 years

Height: 39.5 inches--32.66%

Weight--33.29 pounds--26.62%

BMI: 15--27.31%

 Rachel, 9 months

Height: 26.75 inches--17.08%

Weight: 14.86--4.72%

Head Circumference: 17.5 inches--67.5% (She has to have room for her amazing brain!)

 See her two teeth? Yup, she's already been to the dentist. Go me. (And the fact that it was easy to tack her onto Michael's appointment). 

I love how much these two love each other. If we ever go somewhere without Michael, she is so sad in the back seat. Mostly, she's happy because she likes to go, but if she's tired, she definitely cries more if Michael isn't there. She's happier when he takes a bath with her, plays with her, or is even just in the same room. I'm so glad that they are such good friends and that they are both happy, healthy, and thriving!

Harvest Fun

On October 14, we headed to Cornbelly's for our traditional fall adventure. This year, we started with the maze. We had Michael lead the way again. We actually hit all checkpoints this year, which is a first. 

 Halfway through, Michael was getting tired of the maze, so we took over. 

 And then Brian took the kids on the cow train. 

Cornbelly's 2013

Cornbelly's 2011

 And we got this picture again. 

 We also got a picture of him by the wheel of this same tractor last year. 

2012

2013

 We went earlier in the day this year (Brian took the day off work since he had a business trip later that week). It was awesome to have all the time we wanted since we didn't have to worry about bedtime cutting in on the fun. 

 Then, on Thursday the 17th, Michael's preschool went to Evan's Family Farm. 

 I love their mini straw bale maze. It's perfect for these little guys. 

 And they got to ride a little train and a hayride

 And pick a pumpkin to take home. 

We are loving this little group of cuties. And, we've been enjoying fall.